Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks

There is a National Monument not far from where we live (it’s between Albuquerque and Santa Fe) that I had been wanting to visit since we moved here, almost 8 years ago.  Finally, recently, Jeff and I took a day trip (or part of a day) to visit Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks, Tent Rocks for short.

Magnificent Sky

The Pueblo de Cochite has always considered this are significant, and works with the Bureau of Land Management to protect not only its geological scenic beauty, but also cultural values.  “Kasha-Katuwe” means “white cliffs” in the traditional Keresan language of the Pueblo.

Skyline

Layers in the Rock

Tent Rocks is located on the Pajarito Plateau and its elevation ranges from 5,570 to 6,760 feet.  Needless to say, I wasn’t able to climb up to the top of the monument, but we did enjoy our explorations of it and I went as far as I could go!

View of Tent Rocks

Up Close Tent Rock

The cone shaped formations – the Tent Rocks – are due to volcanic eruptions in the area that occurred 6-7 million years ago.  The eruptions left pumice, ash and tuff deposits over 1,000 feet thick!  The pyroclastic flow that occurred as part of these eruptions helped to form the arroyos that meander in between the tent rocks.  The above two images are only a few of the tent rocks in this monument.

Perched at the Top

Sentry Towers Above

High Up There

Perched on top of the many tapering tent rocks (also called hoodoos) are boulder caps that protect the softer pumice and tuff below them.  The tent rocks that have lost those caps are slowly disintegrating.  The tent rocks also vary in height – some are only a relative few feet tall and others reach up to 90 feet.  Some do look taller, tho, because they are on top of some of the canyon rock!

Small Arch

Archaeologists have found evidence of humans inhabiting this area dating back some 4,000 years.  In the 14^th and 15^th centuries, several large ancestral pueblos were established, and their descendants, the people of the Pueblo de Cochiti, still live in the area.  In fact, as we passed the entrance gate, it appears the” park rangers” are actually people from the Pueblo.

Manzanita Bloom and Seed

Trees in the Rocks

Uprooted Tree

One of the amazing things is all the plant growth among the rock formations.  The green is manzanita shrub bushes.  There are ponderosa pine trees in the area, and in the slot canyon, too.  There are also an abundant wildlife around, altho we didn’t happen to see any.  We may have been there at the wrong time of day.  I did see some manzanita blooms, and after the bloom has gone to seed, as you can see above!

Deadly Tree

Scenic View

The images in this post were taken on the Cave Trail.  If we had done the entire trail (1.2 miles) we would have passed a cave, hand-dug by the ancestral people.  However, we turned off this trail to explore a bit of the Canyon trail, which if followed to the end, would take one thru a slot canyon up to the highest point of the monument.  However, that type of hiking would be too much for me and my asthma, so we did what we could and then turned back.  More about the slot canyon in the next post!

Enjoy!